Enlarge image
Photo: Isabel Pavia / Stone RF / Getty Images
For many parents, the search for gifts is the hot phase.
But this year the whole thing could be a bit more complex and also more expensive.
Because delivery bottlenecks make the toy industry difficult to cope with during the important Christmas business.
Ulrich Brobeil from the German Association of the Toy Industry (DVSI) explained that demand is currently increasing due to a shortage of raw materials and limited transport capacities.
The effects would be felt by almost all manufacturers.
In the case of particularly popular products, this could lead to bottlenecks in the Christmas business.
According to a DVSI survey, 90 percent of companies struggle with problems with materials, raw materials and energy, while 88 percent are worried about transport and logistics.
"The significantly increased expenditure in the supply chain naturally depresses the profitability of our member companies," said DVSI managing director Ulrich Brobeil.
Price increases cannot be avoided.
"The children save last"
The companies assess the prospects for the Christmas business as positive: 39 percent rated it better than last year, said DVSI managing director Brobeil.
Despite the delivery bottlenecks, the overall market will grow by a high single-digit percentage.
"In uncertain times, the children always saved last," said the managing director of the Federal Association of Toy Retailers, Steffen Kahnt.
According to the forecasts, sales here will rise to 3.8 billion euros by the end of the year, four percent more than in the previous year.
In view of this situation, many dealers have filled their warehouses better than ever before, said Kahnt.
When buying a last-minute gift, however, not all wishes could be fulfilled.
Wieland Sulzer, toy retailer from Marburg, said that dealing with the delivery situation currently accounts for 90 percent of his working time.
"Although it's a fight against windmills." In some cases, manufacturers can only deliver a fraction of their products.
The bottlenecks run through all product groups.
The game publishers complained about the situation in the printing industry that the lack of chips was affecting technical toys.
In addition, there would be transport bottlenecks and the drastically increased freight costs from the Far East.
Many manufacturers responded with, in some cases, significant price increases.
According to a survey by the Munich-based Ifo Institute, 77.8 percent of retailers in Germany complained about difficulties in delivering the goods they had ordered in November.
There are therefore supply problems especially with toys.
The industry is not anticipating any rapid relaxation.
DVSI managing director Brobeil said that some companies are confident that things will get better from mid-2022, others do not expect improvement until 2023. "An end to the bottleneck recession is not in sight," he dampened hopes.
Classics are in demand
The bottlenecks hit the industry at a time when demand is high.
In the first ten months of the current year, revenues would have been a good fifth above those of the pre-Corona year 2019.
"This shows how much demand the toy industry has for products and how they have helped people through the crisis so far," said Joachim Stempfle from the market research institute npdgroup Eurotoys.
According to market researchers, building kits such as Lego as well as board games and puzzles are particularly in demand, followed by toddler toys and experiment sets.
mmq / Reuters / dpa
